


Probably Not A Good Idea To Violently Orphan A Force-Sensitive Teenager Huh

by salanaland



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CAPSLOCK DARTH VADER, Canon-Typical Violence, Force Choking (Star Wars), Gen, Leia Chokes Tarkin AU, Spontaneous Untrained Force Usage, this is common enough to warrant a tag you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salanaland/pseuds/salanaland
Summary: Uh, pretty much what it says on the label?
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Comments: 12
Kudos: 125





	Probably Not A Good Idea To Violently Orphan A Force-Sensitive Teenager Huh

Leia Organa, Crown Princess of Dust and Rocks, has never been more furious, or more heartbroken. She is being torn in two, she is _destroyed_ inside. 

She has nothing left to lose. 

She closes her tear-blurred eyes and fantasizes, for a moment, that Tarkin would just _drop dead_. 

_Yes, yes_ , something _whispers_ to her. _How should he die?_

_Never able to give another order_ , she thinks fervently. 

_Take his air then_ , and the whisper seems to _purr_. _You can, if you wish._

She indulges herself, for just a moment more, in imagining the wet _crunch_ of his crumpled throat and the _thump_ of his body on the drab carpet. It's such a _satisfying_ thought, but she can't linger; she has to open her eyes and continue on in a life that lacks her parents, her home, everything and everyone she ever loved. 

She's never been afraid to face up to unpleasant truths, so she opens her eyes. 

It looks so much like her daydream that she gapes momentarily, stunned, unable to comprehend Tarkin's corpse laid out where he fell, neck at an unnatural angle. All the Imperial officers are flinching away from her--

\--no, away from _Vader_ , whose vise grip on her shoulder is as hard and unforgiving as durasteel. 

"As you were, crew," Vader rumbles. "As you can see, I have executed Tarkin for treasonously destroying a loyal Imperial world. Do not follow his poor example. I am hereby taking command of this battlestation in the name of the Emperor." He glowers at an Admiral. "Inform your subordinates of this news while I escort the Princess to a cell." With that, he marches Leia to the lift. 

Once the doors close, she demands, "Will you _please_ tell me what is going on?" 

"Exactly what you saw," he answers in a dismissive tone. _This is not the place for questions_. 

Leia blinks. The words just...flowed into her mind. It's definitely Vader, it sounds exactly like how he sounded when he was trying to break into her mind, but _this_ is not an attack. More of a... _caution_ , to be honest. Perhaps warning of hidden recording devices? 

Why would he _warn_ her, though? What does he fear from a recording of her asking him questions? He could just refuse to answer...

No, it's about _what_ she'd ask. Because... something to do with Tarkin's death. But why would he worry about that? Dozens of officers heard Vader claim responsibility for Tarkin's death. There's surely nothing _she_ could ask that would make the Emperor more or less angry at Vader for killing the Grand Moff. 

Unless...what if that _wasn't_ Vader's doing? 

Leia represses a shiver, tries not to think about how Tarkin had fallen exactly as in her daydream, tries not to think about the malevolent whisper that sounded so _pleased_ , tries not to remember how she felt like limitless _possibility_ was flowing through her, connecting her utter despair to Tarkin's throat. She still _feels_ it, like a song in her veins, like light in her bones, like a promise under her skin. It makes her jittery and unsettled, barely noticing as the lift goes in the exact opposite direction of the detention levels. Perhaps Vader has an exquisitely sadistic torture chamber in another part of this abomination of a space station. 

_No. At least, not for **you**_. He's bleakly amused about some private joke that she doesn't understand, but as the humor involved seems blacker than Vader's cape, she's fine with that. 

The lift opens onto an utterly deserted floor, and Leia wonders momentarily if her body will be found here someday. Vader steers her through the only door in the hallway. 

It's...an utterly deserted room, save for some sort of black metal structure in the corner, and a few supply crates. Vader's hand drops from her shoulder, and Leia slowly turns, looking for exits (only the door they came through, which now seems to be locked; and a small door that looks like it leads to a 'fresher) and any sign of a trap. 

Of course this can't be _that_ easy, and Vader grabs her chin in his implacable grip. " _Who_ taught you the ways of the Force?" he demands. 

It's so far from what she thought he'd say or do that she simply stares at him. "The _Force_? Are you _mad_? I am no _Jedi_!" 

"You are too young to have been trained at the Temple," he proclaims. (Is he _agreeing_ with her?) "But perhaps you have a teacher? Perhaps _Kenobi_?" 

Leia narrows her eyes, willing herself not to flinch at the name. Could he _know_ that's who she--no. "I've never met anyone named Kenobi in my life," she retorts frostily. Just like Papa taught her-- _oh, Papa_ \--she provides an answer that's entirely truthful, if not exactly what he asked. 

Being interrogated is disturbingly like politics. 

"You _must_ have had training," Vader insists. "You shield your thoughts too well."

"Perhaps _you're_ simply very inept," she needles him.

"I am not," he replies ominously. "Where did you learn to kill with the Force?" 

Leia clenches her fists to stop them shaking. "That wasn't _me_ ," she insists. "It's _your_ style."

His hand tilts her chin up, and he looks at her for a long moment. She glares right back. 

"You are adopted, are you not?" he muses aloud. "Perhaps one of your birth parents was a Jedi and taught you."

"That would be a neat trick, as my birth mother lived only long enough to name me, and my birth father was already dead," Leia snaps. "I don't even know their _names_. Nor do I _care_! My _true_ parents were just _murdered_ , and _I am not a Jedi_!" She tries to _shove_ him away--

\-- _with her anger and her grief_ \--

Unbidden, an image pops into her mind, of the woman she's never met, as far as she can remember, but somehow _knows_ is her birth mother. The beautiful, kind, sad woman, whose name she doesn't even know. 

And then--

Suddenly her mind fills with more images of the same woman, smiling, laughing, talking. Firing a blaster. Lying on a walkway, as if dead. Wearing a white lace veil. 

Vader _pushes_ her away from himself, into a wall. Across the room, several crates burst open. Leia's mind whirls. "Who _is_ she?" she asks, as Vader _screams_ , " ** _HOW DO YOU KNOW HER?!_** " 

Leia stares, taken aback by what she somehow knows is the sight of _Darth Vader_ losing his complete _mind_. " ** _ANSWER ME_**!" he demands. 

"She's my--I _think_ she's my birth mother," Leia tells him, hoping that those won't be her last words. 

" _That is **IMPOSSIBLE**_!" Vader _screams_ , again. " _She **DIED** , and my child **WITH** her!_" 

"Well, I don't know for _sure_ that's who she...is..." Leia stares at Vader in dawning horror. " _Your_ child?" 

Another memory unfolds behind her eyes. _"Something wonderful has happened," the woman says. "Ani...I'm pregnant."_ Vader makes a sound that Leia thinks might be his vocoder attempting to express pure, abject misery.

"I could be wrong," Leia hastens to tell him. "That could be just a silly, childish dream I had, it doesn't mean anything, it's probably...not..."

Vader stalks over to her and grabs her chin again, staring at her. "You look like _me_ ," he says brusquely. 

"I do _not_ ," Leia insists. "You're... _tall_. And..." she waves her hands around, frustrated. "I don't even _know_ what you look like!" 

He holds out his other hand, and a datapad flies into it. A few practiced taps of his fingers, and a hologram appears--Leia's seen this one before, when researching Naboo. (She's even borrowed the dress the Queen is wearing, but she's not about to mention that.) " _You're_ in this?" she asks, disbelieving. 

"I did not always look like _this_ ," he says tightly, then points to a young boy with a funny haircut and Jedi robes. "I used to look like _that_." 

Leia is downright incredulous. "That's _you_?! You're _kidding_ , right?" 

" _What_ is so unbelievable about this?" Vader demands. "I was once a child like every other human in the galaxy." He points to the Queen. "As was your _mother_."

Leia makes a rude noise. "Now I _know_ you're lying to me."

"Your capacity for self-delusion is rivaled only by your willful stubbornness!" Vader sounds incredibly irritated. "I am now absolutely _certain_ that you are my daughter."

"A compelling argument indeed," Leia retorts sarcastically. "I can't imagine _why_ I'm not tearfully embracing you right now." She adds a derisive snort. " _Ani._ "


End file.
